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Need HELP proving AgentOrange was on Okinawa 6/67thru12/68

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John48

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I served in Okinawa from June 1967-December 1968 in the 412th Transportation Unit. I unloaded supplies from ships day in and day out. I got soaked with A.O. and other chemicals frequently, since many of the drums would arrive busted open or leaking!  Not allowed to change uniform/shower.  If there is anyone that was there(Okinawa) during those times, or even before or after, PLEASE respond. VA still insists A.O. was not on Okinawa!  Thanks so Much, John48 

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you should be able to prove it  if you have  what is on the list of conditions that A.O. has been found to cause  ...

They have been two known cases that a veterans have been around the A.O. Back in 1982 in Okinawa here is one.

Disability awarded

In October 2015, an unnamed veteran was awarded disability benefits related to Agent Orange exposure on Okinawa.

An unnamed aircraft crew chief who served at Air Force bases on Okinawa and Moses Lake, Wash., in the mid- to late-1950s was granted disability after alleging a service connection to his prostate cancer, which is associated with herbicides like Agent Orange.

The veteran said he was exposed to 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T — later known as Agent Orange — JP-4 jet fuel, benzene and other chemicals while working on the flight lines for hours at a time with no protection.

The veteran said the chemicals were used to control vegetation on flight lines, runways and around “structures” on Okinawa.

“The Veteran explained that, approximately 15 to 16 times a day for 18 months, he regularly inhaled and ingested 2,4-D; and 2,4,5-T, and dioxin-treated dirt that covered his skin. He was exposed, inhaled, ingested, and absorbed 2,4-D; and 2,4,5-T, and dioxin-treated dirt about 5,850 to 6,000 times while at Naha Air Force Base in Okinawa,” according to the Oct. 8, 2015, decision by Veterans Law Judge Mark Hindin after an appeal from a regional office in Oakland, Calif.

The veteran provided newspaper articles, testimony and family research to back his claim.

“Given this evidence, the Board accepts that the Veteran was exposed to 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T and other chemicals during his active service while in Okinawa,” Hindin’s decision said.

But the ruling included a caveat:

“While the Veteran was not exposed to Agent Orange per se, the evidence is in equipoise as to whether he was exposed to its chemical components that VA determined cause prostate cancer.”

Sourse: The Stars & Stripes 

 

 

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https://community.hadit.com/topic/48027-agent-orange-kadena-afb-okinawa/#comments

There is a winner in the above link and it mentions the Stars and Stripes cases.

There is also a remand- I posted in the link, and both of these BVA decisions contain the information that you will need to prove your exposure to AO in Okinawa.

That was an older post and the BVA might have awarded more by now.

The veteran whose did get his claim granted in the BVA case, did an exceptional job proving his exposure to AO.

 

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This Okinawa vet was in a Transport Battalion:

"ORDER

Service connection for prostate cancer due to Agent Orange 
exposure is granted."

https://www.va.gov/vetapp98/files1/9800877.txt

Your unit might have a web site and even a reunion roster- if you need Buddy Statements to support the claim.

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I suggest that you read that BVA decision...here are some important facts from it:

 these are some excerpts from it-

A December 2010 VA email discusses the use of Agent Orange and noted that Department of Defense documentation does not show the use, testing, or storage of tactical herbicides, such as Agent Orange, at any location in Japan. Further, a June 2011 Defense Personnel Records Information Retrieval System (DPRIS) report stated that available Army historical records did not document the spraying, testing, transporting, storage, or use of Agent Orange in Okinawa, Japan during the relevant period on appeal. As such, DPRIS was unable to document that the Veteran was exposed to Agent Orange or other tactical herbicides while stationed in Okinawa, Japan. The DPRIS report also noted that the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) was unable to locate the 1968 to 1970 unit records for the 412th Transportation Company. In multiple lay statements over the years, including in a June 2004 statement, the Veteran advanced loading and unloading barrels of Agent Orange from cargo ships while stationed and working at Naha Naval Port in Okinawa, Japan. The Veteran advanced that on multiple occasions the contents of the barrels would spill out onto the Veteran. Other lay statements, including one from January 2005, convey that the Veteran was able to identify these barrels as containing Agent Orange from the orange bands around the barrels. In January 2005, VA received a lay statement from S.P., a fellow service member who was stationed with the Veteran. S.P. advanced that multiple drums of Agent Orange were among the many items offloaded as part of their duties, and that these drums often leaked. S.P. also noted having a current diagnosis of diabetes mellitus, type II. Per a February 2005 statement, another service member, R.S., advanced handling leaky drums of Agent Orange alongside the Veteran. R.S. stated that these drums were shipped to Okinawa, where they were then loaded onto other boats headed to the Republic of Vietnam. An email was received in January 2009 from an individual by the name of R.G. who was a transportation specialist in the United States Army. R.G. conveyed seeing what he believed to be drums of Agent Orange being shipped from the Republic of Vietnam to Okinawa, Japan. Another fellow service member by the name of M.F. submitted a statement in February 2009. Per the statement, M.F. advanced shipping full barrels of Agent Orange from Okinawa to the Republic of Vietnam and receiving used barrels back while working alongside the Veteran. Further, M.F. also noted being diagnosed with diabetes mellitus, type II. In April 2010, VA received a lay statement from G.H., who conveyed working in Naha Naval Port in 1972. G.H. stated that drums of Agent Orange were moved through the port. VA received a letter from an individual named M.J. in June 2014. Per the letter, M.J. advanced being stationed in Okinawa from August 1968 to March 1970 and observing multiple leaking barrels that emanated a pungent herbicide odor. M.J. stated that when he asked about the contents of the barrels, he was told that they contained Agent Orange.

(There were multiple buddy statements...my note)

 

“The evidence reflects that military records do not convey that Agent Orange was ever stored, tested, or used in Okinawa, Japan; however, as addressed by the Court in its June 2013 memorandum decision, the unit records of the 412th Transportation Company from 1968 to 1970 have been lost.  Per the Court, the Board has considered the unusual facts of this case in finding that the numerous lay statements from fellow service members that leaky drums of Agent Orange were transported between Naha Naval Port in Okinawa, Japan, and the Republic of Vietnam during the relevant period on appeal to be credible.  As the Board finds these statements, under the unusual facts of this case, to be credible, the Board finds the evidence to at least be in relative equipoise on the question of whether the Veteran was exposed to Agent Orange from leaking barrels while performing regular duties at the Naha Naval Port in Okinawa, Japan.  Again, under the specific facts of this case, and only this case, the Board merely finds that there is an approximation of positive and negative evidence as to whether the Veteran may have been exposed to Agent Orange while stationed in Okinawa, Japan.  In rendering this decision, the Board in no way comments as to whether Agent Orange was ever actually stored, used, tested, and/or transported in Okinawa, Japan.

 

Because diabetes mellitus, type II, is presumptively associated with herbicide exposure, service connection for diabetes mellitus, type II, as a result of herbicide exposure is warranted on a presumptive basis.  38 U.S.C.A. § 5107; 38 C.F.R.

§ 3.102.  As service connection is being granted on a presumptive basis, there is no need to discuss entitlement to service connection on any other basis, as other theories of service connection have been rendered moot, leaving no question of law or fact to decide.  See 38 U.S.C.A. § 7104 (West 2014).

 

ORDER

 

Service connection for diabetes mellitus, type II, is granted.”

https://www.va.gov/vetapp16/files5/1635277.txt

My point is the BVA did not concede AO was used in Okinawa, and this seems to have been  a CAVC remand back to the BVA-but the BVA the gave the Buddy statements great weight.

Buddy statements might be your best way of proving your claim.

 

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https://www.koreanwar.org/html/units/2log.htm

I found this there:

“HAROLD CAMPBELL wrote on November 27, 2018

City and State: MATTOON IL

Unit: 412 TRANS CO

Service or Relationship: 1968 to 1970

Comments: I wood like to here from anyone that was there . Fighting Va over agent orange for heart and prostate cancer

Keywords: longshoreman”

https://www.koreanwar.org/html/units/2log.htm

I found this there:

“HAROLD CAMPBELL wrote on November 27, 2018

City and State: MATTOON IL

Unit: 412 TRANS CO

Service or Relationship: 1968 to 1970

Comments: I wood like to here from anyone that was there . Fighting Va over agent orange for heart and prostate cancer

Keywords: longshoreman”

Also this is an excellent site that could help you find buddys:

https://www.togetherweserved.com/

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